The Doomed Train

Motes of amber and amethyst swirled in Jarett’s vision as he was wrenched from his slumber by searing heat. His mind awoke, but his eyelids did not lift. Even without sight, Jarett knew himself to be alone, a reality he could not bear to witness. A dull rattling and clattering made its way up his bones and into his fragile skull.

It felt as if he were near dead from a half dozen blows to the head, and the mechanical racket was doing its best to finish the job. Reluctantly, Jarrett peeled his eyelids open, only to find his face plastered against a window looking out on a shining plain of burning light.

It was a sea of pure glass reflecting the light of the two stars shining above him. Somehow, impossibly, Jarett had found himself on Ardatza 1, the only solar system where the stars orbit a planet rather than the other way around. Copernicus would have hated it.

While the view was stunning, it chilled him to his core. This was ironic, considering that the surface of this planet was hot enough to crystalize rock and disintegrate everything else in a matter of seconds. The gravity alone should have rendered him 2-dimensional.

Less disturbing than the fact that every breath on this planet was a miracle, was that Jarett had no memory of ever arriving on the planet’s surface. He certainly had no recollection of entering this… this… He peered out the window for several moments, fortunate to have looked just as they went about a turn. His eyes widened. Train. He was in a train on a planet where life was an impossibility, and he had no idea why.

He sighed. At least things couldn’t get any stranger.

A tapping drew Jarett’s attention to the other side of the room, where he found a large tank of water. Floating in it was a Dolphin wearing a train conductor’s cap. It began making the squeaks and pops that Jarett knew to be dolphin speak. Sadly, he wasn’t fluent in “fish” and looked about in confusion.

Fortunately, a robotic voice began to translate. “Hello there, human soldier #9674, and welcome to the hell train going nowhere!”

There was a poignant pause as Jarett stared at the sea mammal in a state of pure perplexity. The dolphin merely chittered in response and continued “Do not worry, your life goes on inside this locomotive. You were last deployed on Earth during the Tumult, correct?”

Jarett, not exactly sure of the answer since historians weren’t giving the fight a fancy name as it happened, simply shrugged. This seemed to please the dolphin. Or annoy it, he couldn’t really tell.

“Right, well good news first, the war ended, and the universe is now at peace! Bad news is that we lost Earth and are effectively stranded on this planet, but it’s best to focus on the positives. Our chefs have been hard at work replicating land walker cuisine whilst you have been in cryo sleep. You have been awoken to join the train community and, more importantly, try our latest attempt at that legendary confection; the cupcake!”

The translation bots voice got oddly excited as the Dolphin, who Jarett decided was named Flipper, turned to the side of its tube, and ushered in a cart pushed by what appeared to be a giant, four-eyed wolf covered in black, chitinous scales. It gripped the cart with claws set into four tentacle-like arms extending from its lower back.

At the sight of the beast, Jarett’s hand instinctively went to his hip where he usually had a pistol holstered. All he grasped was air. Jarett had seen enough of his friends ripped apart by those claws to know that he was doomed. Not willing to give up easily, he launched himself to his feet and prepared to fight. The beast merely snorted in derision.

“What in the void is a Temori doing here, Flipper?! You told me we won.”

“Firstly, my name is Cornelius Rill-Runner the Third, please do not address me with speciesist epithets. Secondly, I merely said the war ended, I made no allusion as to who came out on top in the conflict.”

Jarett grimaced. He had spent so long fighting that the mere thought of peace was foreign to him. It tasted like a handful of dirt. Gritty and unsatisfying.

“Whatever, why is an enemy on this train?”

“Enemy? I see no enemy. I see only two representatives of their species, forced to mend their animosities, and move forward. The Aquatic Mammalian Alliance has always been a neutral party. The only hostile actions we took were in defense of Earth, and with the blue gem gone, we only wish to live in peace.” After a pause, Cornelius sarcastically finished with, “since you asked, his name is Tengar, and he loves sweets.”

Jarett didn’t like the smarmy grin plastered across Flip- Cornelius’ face, but there wasn’t much that he could do about it.

“Fine, but the moment the dog tries to eat me, I’m skewering it with its own tails.”

Opening its queer mouth, which ran vertically from chin to snout, the Temori spoke out in its harsh, guttural language, in which Jarett was fluent.

“I would not sully my tongue with your bitter flesh, Biped mongrel.”

The auto-translation system chimed in “He said ‘I would not-‘”

“I know what he said, blasted robot! Go kick cans!” A part of Jarett knew that retort made no sense for many reasons, the least of which being that trains famously did not have legs, but he didn’t care. That thought did remind him of an important question though.

“Hey, Corn hole!”

“That is not-“

“You’ve explained that the war is over, but I’m still rather curious as to how and why we ended up sucking plasma in a train on the planet from hell! Care to enlighten me?”

The Temori, still clasping the confectionary cart, grunted in agreement, and turned so that one of its four eyes was staring at Cornelius. The dolphin patted his head with his flippers before replying.

“We have found constant movement in a heavily shielded vehicle to be vital in surviving on this harsh surface. The train itself is powered by the vast number of solar rays radiating upon it whilst using the kinetic energy produced by our movement to power the shield systems. All excess energy goes to powering the 3.4 million cryo pods located throughout the train cars.”

Receiving more information than he cared for, Jarett simply blinked and replied. “If you are spending so much power on keeping the cryo pods going, why would you waste any energy on waking us up?”

Cornelius twirled in his tank and said, as coyly as the translation bot could deliver, “I needed something to keep me entertained. This train is so dull. Now, enjoy your cupcake and go mingle. You have plenty of new friends to meet!”

Before Jarett could respond, Cornelius wiggled his way out of view and further down the tank.

Jarett turned and made eye contact with the Temori’s set of forward-facing eyes, who was glaring just as many daggers at him as he wanted to throw at the beast. An excessive amount of steel.

“Enjoy the water monster’s concoction, I hope you choke on it.” Tengar snarled out before leaping out of the cabin and running on the wall down the hallway.

Jarett rolled his eyes, Temori had always struck him as flashy showoffs. Despite that, his trembling hands betrayed the deadly might of those “showoffs.” With an effort, Jarett drew his attention to the food cart, and the cupcake sitting atop it.

Jarett was quickly overcome with disappointment. Sitting on the platter before him was a mountain of frosting covered in a second mountain of sprinkles. Further inspection revealed it all to be soaked in saltwater. Jarett presumed there to be a blob of soggy dough beneath it all, but he wasn’t too keen on finding out. Still, he wrapped the concoction in a napkin with a shrug and left the room.

He walked down a long empty hallway. At the far end was a door leading to the train coupling and the next car. Taking a deep breath, Jarett stepped out of the train car and into the fires of hell.

A searing heat assaulted him from all sides. Despite the panic welling inside his gut that urged him to rush back into the safety of the temperature control train, Jeratt paused to look up at the sky.

There was no hint of stars, their light washed out by the overwhelming brightness of the two suns overhead, equidistant from each other and attempting to bake him alive. More interesting was the blue field spinning and swirling several feet above him. He couldn’t see it through the window, the glass likely had some sort of filter.

While the air was hot, it was nowhere near as hot as it would have to be to render an entire planet’s surface glass. The train’s shielding system must have blocked just enough heat to make the interior barely survivable. The power requirements had to be immense. Jeratt was tempted to climb up the car and look out over the train but thought better of it. The heat urged him forward.

Shouldering the door open, Jeratt stumbled into a large open room. An open room full of aliens. Aliens that humanity had been at war with when Jeratt was last awake. Aliens that froze in place to stare at Jeratt with wrath in their eyes. At least, in what passed for eyes.

A flock of Spark-bugs buzzed their indignation at him, the lines of electricity that linked the swarm into a synthesized super-brain flared pink, the color of rage. Jarett could count on his hands the number of soldiers who had seen that color and lived to talk about it. The missing three fingers on his left hand could be blamed on that color.

Above Jarett was a lime green monkey with a dozen eyes and bubbles on the tips of its appendages. It used them to stick to the ceiling. The corps had officially labeled them Yavets, but everyone just called them “Spider Monkey 2.0s.”

He was surrounded by enemies.

Jarett shook his head. Not enemies. The war was over, and if he had any hope of surviving the next 5 seconds, he had to make them remember that.

Taking a deep breath, Jarett eyed his audience, who had turned to face him, with several of the more dangerous species moving to the front. It struck him that there was only one of each species, apart from the spark-bugs, but they only counted as an intelligent species when in a group. He’d watched bugs separated from the swarm forget how to eat and sleep.

If he was going to have any chance of staying alive, Jarett had to devise a common goal. Unity was an unlikely prize, but he would take momentary neutrality.

Trusting the translation program to work for such a diverse crowd, Jarett began to speak.

“I realize that we have been enemies for as long as we have known of each other’s existence. From the glares and scars I see on your faces; I would guess I am not the only one here to have witnessed the horrors of the frontlines. That I am not the only one here to feel the hollow pit of sorrow caused by the death of your friends and comrades. And I am certainly not the only one to experience the rage that floods in to fill that pit.

“If you wish to quench your thirst for vengeance on my blood, I would understand. There’s not much I could do to stop it even if I did mind.” He let out a nervous chuckle. “However, I think you each know that more bloodshed will never fill that hole. The momentary satisfaction it provides only serves to drag you further and further away from being the person whom your lost friends and comrades loved so dearly.”

Before he could continue, Jarett was interrupted by a growling bark. The crowd parted for Tengar, who swaggered forward whilst shoveling a bag of gummies into his mouth. Several of the surrounding aliens bowed to him as he passed. Clearly, the Temori had taken on a role of command within the group, as his species generally did on the battlefield.

“Your speech is pretty and heartwarming, Human, but we know all too well the deceptive nature of your foul species. Do not think you can woo us so easily.” His speech was made less intimidating by the torrent of half-chewed candy that spilled out as he spoke.

Jarett put his hands up in concession. “Please, do not let our bitter history let you forget that you struck first. We hadn’t finished saying hello before you wiped out an entire city.” Jeratt felt his blood beginning to boil and forced himself to take a deep breath. There were no advantages to him getting angry, but many disadvantages.

“You speak as if the entirety of your history does not paint you as a ruthless, conniving species. You would have simply waited until our back was turned to begin the slaughter. The only flaw in our first strike was that we did not wipe you off the face of this universe with it!”

Jarett felt his mind descending into the dark depths of pure wrath. He took a step forward, prepared to throw his life aside when a warm trickle of fluid on his hands distracted him. He inspected his palm to discover he had clenched his fists so tightly that he drew blood. He stared for a moment, allowing himself to get lost in the crimson. Though the battle-hardened side of Jarett that had spent years fighting recognized the telltale shuffle of foes moving to surround him, he did not care.

Instead, he held his blood-stained and dripping fist before him, for all to see. “We can continue to bleed each other. But will that change anything? We are all trapped on this train, and we don’t know why.”

There was a slight but noticeable shift in the air. He had hit a nerve. Pressing his advantage, Jarett continued. “Look around you. You will see one of each species represented. Anything missing?” As they all looked at each other, Jarett sweated. He was about to make a gamble. “Why is it, that on an AMA ship, there is only one dolphin? Where are the humpbacks? The Orca? The Blues? I don’t see how any of those behemoths could fit on this train in any sort of comfort.”

A murmur of confusion rippled through the compartment, but Tengar’s eyes glinted in comprehension. “You think there’s more than the water dweller has told us?” It was hard to tell, but Jarett thought he detected a note of agreement in the Alien dog’s voice.

“I don’t think they’d be particularly intelligent if that weren’t the case, don’t you?”

There was a tense moment where Jarett felt bathed in the light of Tengar’s suspicious gaze. After what could have been an hour but was likely only several seconds, the beast grunted and waved its tendrils in a commanding fashion. As if on cue, the crowd dispersed.

“Do as you wish Human but know that the door out of this compartment is locked. We can get no closer to the engine than this. I doubt you will find anything. But perhaps being an earth creature yourself, you will find something we superior beings overlooked. Cause any trouble, and your ending will be swift but excruciating.” Tengar turned and walk towards a bar before he had finished speaking, clearly uninterested in Jarett’s response.

Walking through the long, pub-like room, the aliens separated before Jarett. However, the action did not have the air of deference offered to Tengar. It was instead the air of a crowd avoiding the touch of a man sick with plague.

Still, it was nice to move easily. Now that he wasn’t faced with an endless mass, Jarett could count the number of individuals in the room. There were around 60 different aliens, just shy of the estimated 77 aliens present in the United Xeno Confederation.

Jarett couldn’t count the number of analysts who had reported to him that humanity’s success in the war had been nothing short of a miracle. Based on sheer numbers alone, they should have been swept away with the tide. But the Xeno forces fought as individuals, sometimes within squads of their own species without much mingling of the races beyond that. At least not on the battlefield. It allowed for humanity’s strict and regimented military to truly shine. That wouldn’t aid Jarett whilst alone, unfortunately.

Stopping to inspect the solid steel door barring further progress, he could hear the faint hum of an electromagnetic lock. Further investigation found a small lockbox near the door, flush with the wall. The only thing that gave it away was the small keyhole present inside it.

“That no data port. Boss think it spy hole” Said a voice behind Jarett. The translation software somehow managed to mimic the stupidity in its voice.

Jarett turned to see a grey creature resembling a giant rhinoceros beetle with dull, unintelligent eyes standing behind him. It bore a blue tint to its horn, which passed for a smile among their species, the Treskilog. They were a fascinating species in that they were the UXC’s primary infantry units, with every battle swarming with the dangerous bugs, but the moment they lost all their commanders, they became incredibly docile and would follow human commands. Jeratt had always found them remarkably sad.

Still, it was good to know that the aliens didn’t know what the keyhole was. He smiled to himself. A running joke within the corps was that the UXC was so technologically advanced that they had lost comprehension of simple mechanisms like a cylinder with metal pins in it. Jeratt had just assumed they didn’t bother with keyholes because most members of the confederation could break down a door with a simple kick. But that only applied when they knew it was a door.

Jeratt had spent some time as a war orphan, so he knew his way around a lock, but had no tools. After scanning the room to no avail, his eyes fell upon the long, thin claws of the Treskilog before him. He didn’t bother asking for its name, since they all called themselves “Harry” for some inconceivable reason.

“Harry, hold your hand out and step forward. I’m going to use your claws real quick.” Harry nodded slowly; his confusion displayed by the green tinge spreading up his horn. It was a common color for the species.

“What are you doing?” Came a harsh growl behind Jeratt as he worked, but he ignored it. He could hear Tengar padding towards him, but before he could get skewered, Jeratt popped the latch open, revealing a small power box full of circuitry.

“This box is what controls that door’s electromagnetic lock. If your friends over there” He gestured towards the spark bugs, “could overload it, we might get out of here.” He had barely finished talking when a bolt of electricity launched from the swarm into the tangle of cables.

After the explosion of sparks subsided, a loud “thunk” sounded from the door. With almost no effort, Harry pried the half-ton door open. Tengar barked orders at the crowd of aliens behind him as they walked into the next room. It was empty save for a giant wall of plasma across from them. It barred all passage.

After inspecting the room for several minutes, Harry yelled out. “Hey, this keypad busted, got no button or shiny lights!”

Jeratt wrinkled his brow and walked over to inspect it. It was a thumbprint scanner. With a sigh, he nervously pressed his finger to the pad, unsure of what rejection would bring. That was a question that would remain unanswered as a happy note of affirmation pinged throughout the room and the wall of plasma died down.

Behind it was another steal door. This one with four large holes above it. It took Jeratt an embarrassing amount of time to think to suggest that the spider monkey try sticking its bulbous fingers into the holes, where it managed to pull the pins locking the door out of place. Another door open.

This process continued for countless more cars, each one offering an obstacle that required the aid of two or more species and many hours to solve. Those hours soon turned to days and in that time, Jeratt grew more comfortable with the aliens… Though he supposed that he was as much an alien to them as they were to him. The only one that this mending of fences did not hold true for was Tengar, who maintained a burning torch of animosity for Jeratt.

Still, the human did his best to not let the creature’s hate dampen the excitement he felt at nearing the front of the train. In all the days since he had awoken, the train had not stopped and he had not seen Cornelius again, though there were always food and rest stations at hand when he needed them.

Jarett was distracted by a gnawing hunger as he and Tengar led the group into yet another car. His only focus was on finding another food station when a booming noise resounded behind the duo. They turned in unison to find their way back to the other cars and their comrades blocked by a thick blast door.

The situation was made only worse by the sweltering heat of the room. Jarett had to assume that it was a heat sink for the train’s engine, which was a good thing in that it meant they were near the end. Assuming they weren’t cooked alive.

Before panic could consume them both, Jeratt pointed to a set of four levers around the far door.

“Those must be for you!”

The comment was met only by a grunt of agreement as Tengar loped forward and yanked the black levers down in one fluid motion. Nothing happened, save for a set of three sound waves above the door lighting up blue.

After a moment, Tengar spat in frustration and let go of the levers, which sprung back up, turning the blue light off.

Jarett could feel the extreme heat getting on his nerves. “Why did you give up so easily?! Keep trying!”

Panting aggressively, the Temori glared at Jarett. “You think yourself clever but are no more than a foolish mutt. Stop thinking that you can command me!”

“Stop being so useless, and I wouldn’t have to!” Jarett retorted.

With a snarl, Tengar lashed out with his tendrils, one of them slicing Jarett’s hip whilst another wrapped around the man’s leg. The other two rocketed towards his face, but Jarett caught them with reflexes enhanced by the thrill of life-or-death combat. He moved to rip the tentacle-like arms out of their sockets, but the coarse flesh ripped at his hands, reopening the self-inflicted wound made during their first encounter.

Jarett paused for a moment, lost in thought as he stared into the flow of crimson. He looked up at the sound of Tengar snarling as he wound up to leap forward in a bone-shattering charge. Thinking quickly, Jarett let go of one of the tendrils and shoved his hand into his jacket pocket.

As Tengar flew forward, jaws open wide and ready to devour him, Jarett sidestepped as best he could and shoved his arm into the Temori’s mouth. The tentacle wrapped about his foot caused Jarett to slam down onto the ground, but he had done what he could.

Above him, Tengar had frozen, mouth overflowing with shriveled napkin paper, pink sprinkles, and creamy white frosting. The imposing creature of war was crying in exultation.

“You humans really did something amazing with your confectionary creations. Even this crude replication is delicious.”

Jarett snorted, idly wondering if an entire war could have been avoided if humanity had been more charitable with their desserts.

“Listen, you have every right to hate me, but please, just try pulling down the levers one more time, okay?”

Tengar nodded wearily. “I do not think it will do much, but the thought of dying without fighting the end is intolerable.”

Once again, the Temori pulled the levers down and the waves lit up blue.

After a moment of confusion, Jarett yelled out, “what do you want from us?! Just open the door!”

“Input accepted” A robotic voice chimed as the door popped open. Jarett and Tengar shared a look before charging forward.

Piling through the coupling, which was far more tolerable despite being completely intolerable, the duo somehow managed to barrel through the final door together.

They stumbled into a mercifully cool chamber surrounded by giant tanks of water. There seemed to be several dolphins and small Orca swimming inside the tank, but Jarett’s attention was drawn to the center of the room.

Propped up in a crystal-clear throne of ice, whilst sipping tea held by robot hands, sat Cornelius. A set of humidifiers built into the throne periodically sprayed him with water, but his eyes, shining with intelligence, were locked on Jarett.

“So, the soldiers made it. Fascinating. We thought you would kill each other for sure.”

“It was a close thing.” The pair said at the same time.

Cornelius chuckled. “Yes, that was certainly harrowing, but it is over. Now, as a reward for reaching the end, Jarett, would you like to kill Tengar?”

The world froze, Jarett felt a bead of sweat spring down his scalp. He turned to see Tengar crouching low in preparation to pounce, though he seemed uncertain as to his target.

Cornelius simply tutted. “Now now, you don’t think we don’t have defense systems built into the train, do you? Attack either of us, and you will be vaporized before your claws leave the floor. It would be such a boring way to go, don’t you think?” The dolphin turned back to Jeratt “now, for your reward. You have spent an admirable amount of time surrounded by the dirty Xenos.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “What would you say to the prospect of us wiping them all out, and awakening a crew of humans for you to live with instead?”

Jeratt felt a knot grow in his stomach. One of fear and anxiety, to be sure, but also of longing. He had had many friends in the corps. Maybe some of them were still alive.

“Before you ask, the train only has enough life support for 100 beings at a time. You cannot let the aliens live and have your friends. You must choose.”

Jeratt thought back on the hate he had carried against aliens all his life. The same hate that aliens like Tengar carried for him. He would be better off with other humans. Humans he could understand, humans who hadn’t carried out a war of genocide for centuries. Humans who, like he, just followed orders. Who attacked civilian populations of aliens, just like the aliens did to humanity… Was his pain any more justified than their own?

Tears streamed down Jeratt’s face unhindered as he maintained fiery eye contact with Cornelius. “Don’t you dare hurt those… people out there. If you kill them, kill me too.” Beside him, Tengar let out a sigh, though whether it was of relief or shock, Jeratt could only guess. Probably both.

Cornelius wiggled his flippers excitedly. “Oh, I was so hoping you would say that! For such a statement, you deserve an even greater reward: the truth!” Jeratt raised his eyebrows quizzically.

“I said this planet is uninhabitable, which is certainly true for the surface, but not quite so for beneath it. When we first arrived, with the many refugees we collected from the battlefield, we awoke humans and aliens together. It was foolish.” Cornelius looked as sorrowful as a Dolphin possibly could.

“To call it a blood bath would be too kind, but suffice it to say, the end of our new civilization was nearly brought about before it could even begin.

“Fearful of bringing more chaos into our already fragile subterranean utopia, we realized that we had to be more selective in our process. So, we created a test to ensure we brought in only those who could work past their deep-seated issues with the other races.”

“How many others have there been?” Jeratt asked with a furrowed brow.

“A few hundred have passed, thousands more have failed. You will be just the start of a new chapter for our people. Do you wish to join us?”

Clearly eager to get out of the cramped confines of the train, both Tengar and Jarett nodded emphatically.

“Perfect! For the sake of secrecy, I cannot show you the city entrance, so you must be put back to sleep. But when you awaken, it will be in a new utopia!” Jarett wanted to protest but found his senses dulled and his limbs numb. He turned to see Tengar looking much the same. As Jarett fell to his knees, Tengar grasped his hand with a tendril.

“Thank you, for…. Doing what-“ Tengar began, obviously unaccustomed to this sort of thing.

“No thanks are necessary. Nor an apology… We have been at war for so long, I forgot that we’re both living creatures. I cannot blame you for doing the same.” Tengar eyed him and then nodded. With that, the pair faded into deep sleep.

Motes of amethyst and amber swum in Jarett’s vision as he began to dream, but this time, he was ready to face reality again, for Jarett was not alone.